ARE YOU feeling sleepy? It could be because a hypnotist is coming to Camberley next week.
Robert Temple will be at the town’s theatre on Thursday, April 20, with his comedy show, described as outrageous.
But the red-headed master of mesmerism wasn’t always putting people under the influence.
Instead, he started as a magician.
His childhood was spent watching performers at the Sunderland Empire, where his dad worked, and – inspired by his hero Paul Daniels – Robert became one of the best young magicians in the country.
“We’d talk at magic conventions and I would e-mail him and he would reply. He didn’t ever come to the North without me seeing his show,” Robert says.
“Watching him perform was like attending a master class for anybody wanting to be involved in comedy entertainment.”
But when he was a teenager magic lost its appeal.
“When somebody shows you a card trick you think it’s clever, but you know it’s a trick. With hypnosis there’s this air of mysticism,” he says.
And so he changed tack.
For the past 15 years, Robert has performed hypnosis in 10 countries, hypnotising more than 20,000 people in more than 2,000 performances – everywhere from Las Vegas to London, Mumbai to Greece.
For over a decade he delighted and shocked Sunderland University students coming to his fresher week shows and he has just completed a successful run of performances at the Edinburgh Fringe.
“The sort of humour I like is edgy and outrageous and when you combine that with hypnotism you get a pretty good idea of where I’m heading,” says Robert.
“The audience knows what’s in store when they buy a ticket and nobody is hypnotised against their will.
“It’s an evening where people can forget all about their inhibitions – literally.”
Tickets for Robert’s show cost £21, and can be booked by calling the box office on: 01276 707600, or logging on to: https://www.camberleytheatre.co.uk/events/robert-temple-hypnotist-red-raw
